Wimbledon 2009: Gael Monfils withdraws with wrist injury

Gael Monfils, who reached the French Open quarter-finals this year before
coming up against Roger Federer, has been forced to withdraw from Wimbledon.
The 22-year-old Frenchman cited a wrist injury as his reason for pulling
out.

Out: Gael Monfils' wrist injury has forced him to pull out of WimbledonPhoto: GETTY IMAGESsssssssssssssssssssss

By Sandy Macaskill

3:49PM BST 18 Jun 2009

It was only on Wednesday that Monfils was named as the 14th seed for the tournament. However, he was also forced to withdraw from last week's Queen's Club tournament after falling and injuring his wrist in a second-round win over Kazakhstan's Andrey Golubev.

Monfils, who also missed last year's Wimbledon, with a shoulder injury, will be replaced by a lucky loser from qualifying, while Marat Safin becomes the 14th seed.

Sadly, it will not be a Briton. While the men were all knocked out of the qualifying tournament at Roehampton on Wednesday, the only remaining British player in the draw, Naomi Cavaday, was on Thursday defeated by Vesna Manasieva from Russia, 7-5, 6-2. Having fallen at the last hurdle, it means that no British players have progressed to either the men's or women's singles draw through the qualifying stages.

Meanwhile Dinara Safina, the women's world No 1, has reached the semi-finals of the Ordina Open in Hertogenbosch, Holland. The runner-up at this competition last year, Safina had to come back from a set behind to beat sixth-seeded Slovakian Daniela Hantuchova 1-6, 6-4, 6-3.